The Montenegrin legal framework only partially ensures a professional, depoliticized and merit-based public administration, the European Commission (EC) assessed in its progress report on public administration.
The EC also warns that “there is no precise data on the number of employees in the public sector by contract type, the number of filled positions, the number of temporary contracts, as well as on retention and attraction rates in the civil service”. “This lack of data, combined with underdeveloped competence frameworks, means that there is limited understanding of the skills needed by sector, as well as where the gaps are and how to fill them. When it comes to gender balance in the civil service, full equality has not yet been achieved, as women make up slightly less than half of all employees. Gender balance needs to be proactively promoted and achieved in the civil service, including in senior management positions”, the EC emphasizes.
They remind that amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees were adopted in August with certain improvements, but they also point out that the description "enables external candidates to perform management functions without conducting competitive recruitment procedures."
"The performance appraisal system in the civil service also requires improvement. The capacities for modern human resource management in line ministries and the public sector remain limited. The human resource management information system remains a weak tool for transparent planning, management and monitoring of human resources. Frequent reorganizations of ministries have slowed down the process of linking jobs with new systematizations, as well as the process of developing personnel needs plans," the document states.
According to the EC, the lack of administrative capacity affects the process of harmonization with the EU acquis in all sectors, and the Government has initiated a process of optimizing these capacities.
“The lack of reform of the salary system has led to unclear and non-transparent remuneration practices, but a new law on salaries in the public sector is under preparation. The mismatch between job descriptions and qualification requirements, as well as the absence of adequate salary grades linked to job descriptions, undermine fair and merit-based remuneration in the public sector,” the EC warns.
They also specified that "the quality of the recruitment process remains poor due to inadequate standardized testing, a small number of qualified candidates, and delays in adopting a competency framework for middle and lower management, as well as specific requirements for experts and technical staff."
The high level of turnover among senior civil servants, the report states, together with temporary contracts and a large number of acting managers, a significant proportion of whom are hired from outside, undermines career stability in the civil service and administrative capacity.
“There is a legal framework that sets good standards for lines of responsibility, competencies of supervisory and subordinate bodies, as well as for performance management. In addition, the organizational structure of the public administration is not yet fully aligned with good public administration standards prescribed by law. Frequent changes in the organization of the public administration, which include the separation or merger of different institutions without prior detailed analysis, have led to significant staff turnover and loss of institutional memory and expertise,” the report highlighted.
The EC says that it is necessary for the state to ensure more transparent and accountable administration by finalizing the internal audit of the organizational structure of line ministries and their bodies.
"But also strengthen the functioning of a professional, merit-based public administration by taking key steps, such as implementing the new Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, through regular filling of vacancies based on merit-based competitions, finalizing the systematization of vacancies based on the newly adopted competency framework, and reducing the number of acting and temporary contracts," the EC recommends.
Still a bureaucratic society, digital services need to be strengthened
The EC emphasizes that the way services are provided to citizens and businesses needs to be improved.
“Services remain bureaucratic and not user-friendly.”
In the section relating to digital governance, the EC recalls that "a major cybersecurity crisis, a cyber attack on the state's IT infrastructure in 2023, delayed certain improvements in digital services, caused the loss and corruption of a significant amount of data from various databases."
"...And undermined trust in public information infrastructure. However, recently renewed planning documents, in particular the Digital Transformation Strategy for the period from 2022 to 2026, aim to expand and modernize infrastructure, develop and improve digital skills, increase awareness among citizens and businesses about the importance of digital development, and improve the quality, quantity, and use of e-services," the report states.
They assess that challenges remain "especially in terms of consolidating digital services into a single eGovernment portal and improving data exchange between institutions."
AZLP capacities insufficient for efficiency
The Law on the Protection of Personal Data, the EC warns, is not yet aligned with the EU acquis, and Montenegro has not yet ratified the 2018 Council of Europe Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data.
"The human and financial capacities, as well as the IT expertise of the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information (AZLP), are insufficient for the effective implementation of the Law on Free Access to Information, which was presented to the Parliament in July and has not yet been adopted, as well as for the planned new law on data protection," the document states.
The STI Law is pending in the Parliament
“The Law on Free Access to Information, which aims to improve compliance with the Open Data Directive, is awaiting adoption by the Parliament. There is a legal basis that ensures the right of citizens to good administration in administrative proceedings and judicial protection. However, administrative dispute cases are not resolved within a reasonable time, and the number of administrative disputes in the area of access to information is very large, leading to a significant backlog in their resolution,” the report states.
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